Judge James Block ZagelSeptember 2012: Average Prison Sentence

District Court - Illinois North Program Area: White Collar Crime

Percent not reported where cases too few to provide meaningful comparison.Table 1: Current and 5 YearAverage Prison Sentence Comparison

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Judge

District

Compared To District

U.S.

Compared To U.S.

Latest Fiscal Year

16.3

37.7

-

24.3

-

Previous Fiscal Year

42.9

32.6

31.5%

23.1

86.0%

Past 5 Years

26.7

31.1

-13.9%

23.2

15.3%

Percent not reported where cases too few to provide meaningful comparison.Table 1: Current and 5 YearAverage Prison Sentence Comparison

For all cases disposed of in the current fiscal year (2012) that were credited
to Judge James Block Zagel in the Northern District of Illinois, the
average prison sentence was 16.3 months, when looking only at cases falling under the broad category of "White Collar Crime".
During the current fiscal year, Judge James Block Zagel has
sentenced 7 defendants
compared with 10 defendants during the twelve months
of the previous fiscal year.

Over the last five years, the average prison sentence imposed on defendants
that were credited to Judge Zagel was 26.7 months. This was
13.9% lower than the 31.1 months typical
in Illinois North and 15.3% higher than
the 23.2 months average prison sentence for the nation.
Judge James Block Zagel sentenced 41 defendants during the past five years.

(CAUTION: The kinds of cases handled by individual judges influences
statistical information about their sentences. It therefore is
important to consider the breakdown of cases that each has handled,
available below, when making judge-by-judge comparisons.)

Figure 1: Five Year Comparison of Average Prison Sentencein Months

Figure 1 compares Judge Zagel's numbers to those for judges in this district and
in the United States as a whole for cases of this type over the last five years.

During the last five years there were 26 other judges in the Northern District of Illinois with information
on convictions during that period.
Average prison sentence numbers passed down for those judges
ranged from 11.9 months to 84.2 months, putting Judge Zagel's average prison sentence
of 26.7 months at the higher end of the range.
The average prison sentence
for the whole Northern District of Illinois during that time was 31.1 months.

Figure 2: Detailed Comparison among Judges for the Northern District of Illinois

Professional Biography

Born 1941 in Chicago, IL

Federal Judicial Service
Judge, U. S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois

Nominated by Ronald Reagan on February 2, 1987, to a seat vacated by Frank J. McGarr; Confirmed by the Senate on April 21, 1987, and received commission on April 22, 1987.

Education:
University of Chicago, B.A., 1962
University of Chicago, M.A., 1962
Harvard Law School, J.D., 1965

Lead Investigative Agencies in Cases Handled

The lead investigative agency that referred cases disposed of by Judge James Block Zagel for the past five years
was the Justice - Federal Bureau of Investigation. It accounted for 29.3% of all cases.

Other agencies with substantial numbers of cases that were disposed
by Judge James Block Zagel over the past five years were:
Homeland Security - Secret Service (formerly Treasury) (22.0%), Postal Service (14.6%), Treasury - Internal Revenue Service (12.2%), Other (7.3%), Veterans Administration (4.9%), Other - Social Security Administration (4.9%).